Mistra Carbon Exit

“Mistra Carbon Exits aim is to identify and analyze the technical, economic and political opportunities and challenges for Sweden to reach the target of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2045.”

The programme in short

Exiting the carbon society requires a transition with respect to virtually all industrial processes and their associated products and services. Mistra Carbon Exit takes on this challenge by focusing on opportunities and barriers for mitigating carbon emissions along the industry supply chains - from the input of raw materials, over primary and secondary activities, to the final products and services demanded by the end user.

The programme is designed to generate new knowledge and develop strategies that will enable Swedish society and Swedish companies to become front runners in offering low- or zero-carbon products and services.

In four industrial case studies we investigate the supply chains buildings, transportation infrastructure and transportation, covering at least 75 percent of Sweden’s CO2 emissions. Five academic work packages supports these case studies with a high level of cross-interaction.

Based on my experience from the first week, I would say that a few clear themes have emerged from the talks: finance, the role of non-state actors, an enhanced focus on industry, partnerships and collaboration, a socially just transition, as well as moving from ambition to action.

Chalmers are looking for master thesis students for two different thesis: “Material use in a low carbon energy system” and “Concrete change: analysis of strategies to reduce the climate impact of concrete use”.

The transition towards net zero greenhouse gas emissions will require non-conventional decisions by policymakers, businesses and households to foster investments in new low carbon technologies. Even when low carbon technologies exist, structural and psychological barriers often stand in the way towards taking these decisions.

During two days in November nearly 50 participants from the Mistra Carbon Exit Consortium met for an internal program conference in Stockholm, Sweden. The aim was to present and discuss results from a number of work packages and case studies and allow for all participants to take part of what is done in the program.

I’m on my way to Sacramento, the capital of California. The grass is brown and the air is yellowish and hazy due to fires. In a week from now the fires will spread rapidly, consume homes and vineyards in the wine districts north of San Francisco and kill more than 20 people. The fires fuel the debate of climate change and strengthen the engagement from people and politicians in California. One may think that with Trump as United States’ president climate action has halted in the US. But not here in California.

The brief outlines different perspectives on the past performance of the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) in terms of its allowance price (Section 1), analyses how the recent reform responded to related challenges (Section 2), and considers the case for introducing a carbon price floor in the EU ETS (Section 3). The main part of the brief (Section 4) identifies five myths in the debate of an EU ETS price floor and critically confronts them. Section 5 concludes by discussing potential entry points for introducing a carbon price floor in the context of the upcoming EU climate policy process.

The Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C was approved by the IPCC on Saturday in Incheon, Republic of Korea. It will be a key scientific input into the Katowice Climate Change Conference in Poland in December, when governments review the Paris Agreement to tackle climate change. Lars Zetterberg, IVL, Program director Mistra Carbon Exit and Filip Johnsson, Chalmers, Vice Program Director Mistra Carbon Exit, comments on the report in Ny Teknik.

Last week marked the start of focus group interviews that contribute to Mistra Carbon Exit Work Package 3. Feeding particularly into the project Focus groups on Swedish leadership, niche markets and low carbon business models, the group interviews aim to examine how sustainable societies and climate leadership are made sense of by key actors. More precisely the focus is to elaborate how different actors, including Swedish industry representatives, and representatives of Swedish environment politics and administration, perceive efforts towards achieving Sweden’s target of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2045.

Uppsala Municipality, one of Mistra Carbon Exits partners, mainly working in the local arenas case study, has been awarded this year's Global Climate City in WWF's urban challenge One Planet City Challenge.

The jury's motivation states, among other things, that "Uppsala has ambitious, innovative and scientifically set goals, for example renewable energy and sustainable mobility. Investments in transport infrastructure were especially appreciated by the jury. Although Uppsala is a small city, the jury believes it serves as a global model."

In September Frances Sprei, Chalmers and Mistra Carbon Exit and Daniel Johansson, Chalmers and leader of Mistra Carbon Exit case study on transport, were invited to the Swedish Climate Policy Council to present their research.

- The presentation focused on what part autonomous vehicles can play for the development of the Swedish transport system, focusing on passenger transport and related impacts on the sector's energy use and CO2 emissions, says Daniel Johansson.

The roadmaps for fossil free competitiveness describe how each sector can increase their competitiveness by phasing out fossil fuels. Several representatives from Mistra Carbon Exit have been involved in the development of roadmaps for the Concrete industry and the Construction industry. A summary of the first nine roadmaps that have been presented to the Government is now available in English.